On May 25, 1577, King Philip II of Spain ordered by royal cédula the preparation of a general description of Spain's holdings in the Indies. Instructions and a questionnaire, issued in 1577 by the Office of the Cronista Mayor-Cosmógrafo, were distributed to local officials in the Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru to direct the gathering of information. The questionnaire, comprised of fifty items, was designed to elicit basic information about the nature of the land and the life of its peoples. The replies, known as "relaciones geográficas," were written between 1579 and 1585 and were returned to the Cronista Mayor-Cosmógrafo in Spain by the Council of the Indies.

The collection consists of forty-three relaciones geográficas (one a 19th-century copy) prepared by local officials in New Spain in response to the 1577 questionnaire mandated by King Philip II. Forty-one relaciones pertain to territory in present-day Mexico; two relate to what is now Guatemala. The relaciones contain historical, cultural, and geographical information on New Spain and its peoples during the 16th century and before the Conquest. The Relación de Texcoco is a 19th-century manuscript copy; another copy of this relación, probably made in the 17th century, is part of the Genaro García Collection in Benson.

Twenty-one relaciones are accompanied by printed questionnaires; 26 relaciones are accompanied by one or more maps, known as pinturas. The 37 pinturas are significant in their own right, not only as adjuncts to the texts. In addition to conveying historical information about such topics as 16th-century architecture, the spread of European religion in New Spain, and the colonial economy, the pinturas are artifacts for the study of the history of Latin American art and manuscript painting.